Lazy Days of Summer

July 19, 2017

It’s 12:30pm and I’m still in my pajamas. I have no regrets; Rusty, his best friend Harley, and I are having a mild lazy day today. My summer vacation is dwindling and with random plans spotted all over the calendar, I’m embracing the days with zero plans. (Both pups are snoozing away, each on their own favorite chair. They lead a rough life.)

Our life is slightly tangled right now with lots of potential “what ifs.” Sometimes this kind of talk excites me, and sometimes it’s enough to drive me up the wall. There are some big changes that we’ve been on the fence about. It has consumed us for the past month, but right now at this very minute, we’re in a state of limbo. So while my days have felt more rushed and hurried and slightly chaotic, I’ve decided to let summer be summer and I’m embracing being lazy today. I’m getting all those complicated thoughts out of my mind and instead I’m tiptoeing to the simple, slow, leisurely way of life.

It’s so still in this house – all I can hear is the humming of a distant lawn mower. The wind chimes ring every few minutes and the trees are swaying outside the living room windows. Harley and Rusty just looked up at each other in between napping and then plopped back down to finish their dreams. The air conditioner has been running non-stop for what seems like forever. On the rare occasion when the temperature outside has dropped below 75 degrees, we open the windows in every room and go to bed with the sounds of crickets and the wind blowing. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to the stars and moon shining through the curtains; the crickets have gone to sleep.

The house smells of delicious basil. Earlier today I shuffled outside – still in PJs (the neighbors must just love me) and followed by two shadows named Harley and Rusty – with my scissors and opened the garden gate. The boys aren’t allowed in so they went around sniffing every corner of the yard, chasing the birds, and licking each other’s faces (mostly Rusty licked Harley’s face and Harley tried running away from him). We have so much growing in the garden and because of the latest chaos in our life, I’ve been avoiding the garden and focusing on more “important things” and because of that, the garden is overgrown. We definitely planted too many of each plant but we’re using what we can and planning on giving some away to family and friends once it’s all harvested. Our kale plants deliver so much, so fast. The tomatoes are growing rapidly and soon we’ll be able to pluck off those little bits of red heaven. The broccoli is just about ready to harvest, and the basil is beginning to flower. So I took my scissors and pruned so much from the kale plants and then harvested my first batch of basil. Oh goodness, it smelled so wonderful. It looked so pretty and fresh. I plucked a few daisies, cut a couple of roses, and followed the two shadows back inside where there’s shade and fresh water. The basil is now drying in the kitchen, soon to be crumbled for dinners in months to come.

Tonight, when our home feels more complete with Paul back from work, we’ll continue living slowly. We’ll turn on the grill, cut up some veggies, dribble olive oil in a hot pan, turn the records on, watch the sun go down, take a long leisurely stroll, and let summer wash over us. When the sun’s gone, I’ll pull out my paints, Paul will stretch out on the couch with Rusty, we’ll watch a movie or our favorite TV shows, I’ll look over at Paul and smile, and we’ll be happy and content with where we are in this chapter of our life. Frank said it best when he sang

and welcome to the blog! I'm Nikki, a creative old soul who loves tea time, tip-toeing through gardens, mounds of books, swaying to records, watercolors, sunset walks with Rusty, and star-gazing with Paul. This blog carries snippets of my life with just the two of us - I hope it brings you happiness as you snuggle in with your cup of tea and begin reading. Enjoy, friends! (Latest posts below!)